Top 10 most expensive Newcastle United sales of all time amid astronomical Alexander Isak price tag

Newcastle United want to send a strong message that their days as a selling club are behind them, but they have some highly valuable assets in their squad now.

The form of someone like Alexander Isak has made plenty of rival fans envious of the talent Newcastle have been able to add to their squad in recent years. Isak is not for sale this summer, but if he was available, the price tag would be reaching record values.

Sources insist it would take more than £150m for Newcastle to even start entertaining conversations about Isak. In other words, they’re simply not negotiating about him.

Newcastle had to cash in on a couple of players they would have rather kept last year because of Profit and Sustainability Rules in the Premier League. But now, having grasped their first trophy in 70 years and closing in on a Champions League return, they will be hoping they don’t have to suffer those kind of setbacks again.

So, which players have Newcastle sold for the biggest money before? Here’s a countdown of their top 10 most expensive departures.

10. Yohan Cabaye – £19m

After seven years with Lille, culminating in a Ligue 1 title, Newcastle brought Cabaye to English football in 2011 for a bargain fee of £4.3m.

The midfielder spent two-and-a-half years on Tyneside, where he stood out for his tireless ground covering and ability from free kicks.

Newcastle rejected a £10m bid from Arsenal for Cabaye in 2013 and standing their ground turned out to be the right decision, even if it wasn’t to the player’s satisfaction at first. He refused to play for a couple of games, clarifying years later that he felt ‘betrayed’ that Newcastle weren’t keeping their word about entertaining talks.

In the following transfer window, PSG pushed to take Cabaye back to his native France. Initially hoping to seal a deal for £14m, they eventually found an agreement with Newcastle in the region of £19m. Some reports at the time had the fee down as £23m.

Cabaye was back in the Premier League just two years later as Crystal Palace broke their transfer record to sign him, reuniting him with Alan Pardew in the process. However, PSG made a loss, as the price was £10m.

9. Lloyd Kelly – £20m

Newcastle didn’t pay Bournemouth a penny to sign Kelly, whose contract at the Vitality Stadium expired in June 2024 to set up a reunion with Eddie Howe.

However, only half of Kelly’s 14 appearances for Newcastle were as a starter. Ultimately, he lasted just half a season at St. James’ Park.

Juventus took Kelly away in February on loan with an obligation to buy for up to £20m, with the initial fee believed to be around £12m on top of the £2.5m Newcastle already received for sanctioning the loan.

The obligation for the permanent transfer is believed to hinge on whether Juventus qualify for European football next season or not. Otherwise, Kelly’s contract at Newcastle would be valid until 2029.

“I don’t think it was necessarily my decision to let him leave,” Howe reflected on Kelly’s swift exit. “I think it’s very reluctant from our side because Lloyd is a player that had just recently signed and we believed in him and his qualities. It was slightly frustrating for him that he hadn’t played more, in part really due to the form of the other players around him.

“But I think we’re in the world – and we have been this window – of trying to manage PSR and trying to make decisions that benefit us in the long term, and this is one of those decisions.”

8. Aleksandar Mitrovic – £22m

Costing £13m to sign from Anderlecht in 2013, Mitrovic only scored 17 goals from 72 games for Newcastle before leaving for Fulham.

Rafael Benitez couldn’t guarantee the striker the starts he wanted, citing a lack of mobility as a reason for not favouring him.

“Is he a good player? Yes. Can he score goals for Fulham? Yes. But, for us, maybe we needed something different,” Benitez said in 2018, when Mitrovic was establishing himself in the Premier League again.

“Maybe because he was not playing his confidence was low, and now it is high. But we needed more mobility.”

After making his loan move permanent, Mitrovic’s spell with Fulham was prolific. In total, he scored 111 goals from 206 games for the Cottagers.

Thus, when Fulham sold Mitrovic to in 2023 – to Al Hilal in the Saudi Pro League – it was for a fee of £50m.

7. Allan Saint-Maximin – £23m

🇫🇷⚡️5 YEARS AGO TODAY: Saint-Maximin joined Newcastle from OGC Nice! This goal sums him up perfectly. 😍 pic.twitter.com/iYH7UQyN3F

— EuroFoot (@eurofootcom) August 2, 2024

Two years before their Saudi takeover, the signing that provided some rare and much-craved excitement for Newcastle was the addition of Saint-Maximin from Nice.

The winger enjoyed the best spell of his career at St. James’ Park, making 124 appearances.

In that time, he scored 13 goals and 21 assists, but it was his style of play that endeared him to the Newcastle faithful.

After four seasons, Saint-Maximin was sold to Saudi Pro League side Al-Ahli – by this point owned by the same Public Investment Fund as Newcastle – for a profit of at least £3m.

He posted on social media when he left: “I fell for Newcastle, I had great opportunities to leave during dark days, but that was too late I was already in love, I wanted, I needed, I had to stay for helping my team to save the club from Premier League relegation because it meant the world for me.

“Of course during those dark days some may have had their doubts, but I always believed in this club and look where we are today, it’s just so beautiful. I’m leaving Newcastle as it should always have been and that’s my greatest trophy because I was a part of it.”

GO FURTHER – Every Premier League and world star that joined the Saudi Pro League in 2023

6. Georginio Wijnaldum – £25m

Wijnaldum’s only season as a Newcastle player ended in relegation after they finished 18th in the 2015-16 Premier League.

Thus, an early exit became almost inevitable for the midfielder, who was the Magpies’ top scorer that season with 11 goals.

Liverpool picked up Wijnaldum for £25m, which gave Newcastle a profit of more than £10m.

He explained ahead of his first return to Newcastle in 2017: “I remember my last game for Newcastle in the pre-season when their fans were singing that they wanted me to stay, but when the opportunity came to play for a great club like Liverpool with such a great history I had to take it. I hope they understand why I made that choice to go to Liverpool.”

He went on to spend five successful seasons at Liverpool, where Jurgen Klopp made him a key part of a title-winning side.

Liverpool didn’t get any transfer fee back for Wijnaldum, though, as his contract expired in 2021. His career has been fizzling out since then.

=4. Ayoze Perez – £30m

Perez had never played top-flight football before when Newcastle brought him to the Premier League from Tenerife in 2014. The fee was a tiny £1.5m.

From that investment, Newcastle got five seasons, 195 appearances, 48 goals and 17 assists out of the winger.

In 2019, coinciding with the departure of Rafael Benitez as manager, the Magpies made a significant profit when selling Perez to Premier League rivals Leicester City for £30m. It was a club-record deal for the Foxes.

“The truth is that after five years at Newcastle I needed a change, both athletically and mentally,” said the Spaniard upon reflection in October 2024.

Perez was booed on his return to St. James’ Park with Leicester, but he has spoken fondly on his time on Tyneside since.

=4. Moussa Sissoko – £30m

Like Wijnaldum, Sissoko left Newcastle in the wake of their relegation from the Premier League in 2016, but in his case that was after three-and-a-half years of service to the club.

Sissoko cost Newcastle a similar fee to Perez in the region of £1.8m and left giving them a virtually identical profit too.

Although the midfielder made it clear early on that he didn’t want to stick around in the second tier – telling French media, “I have reached a level where playing in the Championship would be difficult for me. I need to continue to evolve” – it took until deadline day in August 2016 for Sissoko’s fate to be sealed.

He initially claimed his dream was to join ‘the beautiful Arsenal’ who were the ‘club of my heart’, but ultimately joined their north-London rivals Tottenham Hotspur, who themselves hijacked a late swoop by Everton.

The France international spent five seasons with Spurs, with whom he became a Champions League finalist in 2019.

Sissoko later admitted ‘regret’ at his Newcastle exit and issued a ‘sorry’ message in an interview with the Chronicle in March 2023.

In the same interview, he clarified: “After the Euros, I had some offers from some good teams so it was difficult for me to say no because they were teams that were playing for the title and playing in the Champions League every year so that’s why I decided to leave. It was not for the money or because I didn’t care about Newcastle. It was for my progression, my future.”

READ MORE: Ranking every signing Dan Ashworth made for Newcastle

3. Yankuba Minteh – £33m

Minteh made a grand total of zero appearances for Newcastle before they begrudgingly had to sell him for PSR reasons in 2024, netting themselves a tidy profit in the process.

Newcastle signed Minteh for about £7m as an 18-year-old, before loaning him out to Feyenoord. He enjoyed a productive season under Arne Slot’s guidance in the Eredivisie, scoring 10 goals from 27 games.

There were hopes that Minteh could return to Newcastle to continue his progression, but the increasing threat of PSR restrictions led them to sacrifice him in the summer of 2024.

Minteh moved across the Premier League to Brighton, who were willing to pay up to £33m for the winger (some reports cited the fee as £30m). It made him the Seagulls’ record signing.

In the FA Cup that season, Minteh went on to score against Newcastle at St. James’ Park.

Recently, Minteh admitted he was unaware of the PSR reasons behind his Newcastle exit, but he has no negative feeling towards the club.

“I just heard from my agent that they wanted to sell me,” he told The Athletic. “I said: ‘OK, if they want to sell me, then it’s fine. I can go to another club and try. I know other clubs are interested in me, so if I don’t play there, then it’s an opportunity to play for another team.’ I wasn’t sad or anything like that.”

=1. Andy Carroll – £35m

Gateshead-born Carroll came through the Newcastle academy before establishing himself in the Premier League and becoming a full England international – not to mention the inheritor of the famous no.9 shirt in the black and white colours.

But things came to a controversial end in January 2011, when Newcastle turned down a £30m bid from Liverpool on deadline day before eventually accepting an improved £35m offer for the then-22-year-old.

Newcastle claimed Carroll had submitted a transfer request, whereas he argued it was the club’s own managing director who told him to. Alan Pardew denied Carroll’s comeback, insisting the striker wasn’t forced to leave.

Whatever truly happened, Carrol became the most expensive British footballer ever at the time. He struggled to justify his price tag for Liverpool, though, especially in contrast to their other striker signing that window, Luis Suarez.

After only spending 18 months at Anfield and scoring six Premier League goals, Liverpool made a loss when selling Carroll to West Ham for £15m.

Following his spell down in London, the striker re-signed for Newcastle in a free transfer in 2019. During his two-year-long second spell, though, he only scored once in the Premier League.

=1. Elliot Anderson – £35m

Along with Minteh, the other unwanted sacrifice Newcastle made in 2024 was the sale of academy graduate Elliot Anderson to Nottingham Forest.

Anderson had been in the Newcastle system since the age of eight. After a loan spell with Bristol Rovers in League Two, he became a first-team player from 2022.

The midfielder enjoyed two seasons with his boyhood club before they were forced to let him go to meet PSR targets.

Nottingham Forest were the grateful buyers for a fee believed to be £35m (although some reports claimed it was lower). In a separate deal, backup goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos moved the other way.

Anderson has been one of the best signings of the season for Forest. However, he kept his allegiances clear by attending the 2025 Carabao Cup final as a Newcastle fan.

Reflecting on his exit from the club, Anderson told BBC Sport: “It was very sad, you never know you’re going to join a club and play. In my head at the time, I never knew it was going to go the way it has so it was obviously a really tough one to take.

“I was really settled there, and I didn’t really see it coming. But that’s football – you’ve got to be prepared for any challenge that comes your way.

“It wasn’t to be there but I’ve come to a great club where I’ve found myself. I’m really enjoying it.”